Aspects of the present invention are directed to a probe apparatus, a method of assembling a probe apparatus and a method of operating a probe apparatus.
As electronic devices become increasingly small, their individual components become increasingly small as well. Device contact pitches, therefore, particularly in the areas of silicon carriers and other 3D technologies, continue to tighten and are, in many cases, on a scale of less than 50 microns. Current test probe technologies, however, do not typically extend to pitches of 50 microns or less and, thus, are often incompatible with many modern devices.
Rigid interposers have been proposed as a solution to this problem, but relatively small and non-compliant solder balls and the lack of flatness in the devices being tested make it unclear if this approach can be successful. Similar concerns apply to testing of carriers that require a “loopback” function to be tested. Currently, the proposed solutions to these problems involve temporarily soldering on the “loopback” but, in practice, this does not appear to be effective.